Greenwood forest and the Silver Mountains
by Mjus
Summary: This is the story about Centaur Usopp and the others living in the Greenwood forest, and about their fight for survival. Rated T for safety
1. Chapter 1

Hi! I'm updating a little something just to let you know I'm still alive. It's a twoshot inspired by a drawing od DA by the amazing -syb. I hope you'll enjoy it ;) Oh, and the dragons in this are supposed to be Chinese ones, if it makes any sense...

Don't forget to rewview!

One Piece and characters (c) Eiichiro Oda

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><p>Usopp quietly ran up the hill to see the sun rise. Up on his hill the view was the best in all the forest.<p>

Hesitantly at first the horizon became a little brighter, then the arriving sun coloured the sky purple, the east, pink and gold. When the sun peeked over the distant treetops the sky's colour paled into an innocent blue, deeper than the sea. The forest sparkled in greeting of the morning.

"So once again the dawn has come to the Greenwoods," Usopp contently sighed to himself and turned his head. "And to the Silver Mountains."

A stag beetle buzzed up from a tree.

"Good morning, Usoppn," it said and landed on the boy's butt, only to be swatted away by said boy's hairy tail.

"Good morning, Hercules. You never seem to learn."

The beetle landed on his friend's shoulder instead, rubbing his head. "But a centaur's butt is a better seat than his shoulder," he whined.

"Makes no difference. Having a Hercules on the butt is uncomfortable," Usopp said and scrapped with his hoofs. Today he felt so good his brown skin and curly black hair and tail almost sparkled.

Since the morning had now arrived, everybody else in the forest would be awake too. So Usopp ran down the hill and back to his mother.

"Good morning, Usopp. Out for another adventure?"

"Yup. I'll practice my aim with the dragon today."

His mother scraped with her hoof in agreement and so her young son smiled at her, took his arrows and bow from where they hung on a branch and were off.

Usopp was just a colt. Seventeen years old he was, and the forest's lookout. Not officially. He simply had the sharpest sight in the forest, and a tendency to be quite loud whenever danger came around. Truth to be told, he was more a nervous horse than a brave centaur.

"Usoppn! Breakfast!" Hercules called from his shoulder and pointed at a tree seeping sweet resin. The centaur stopped and with an annoyed expression watched his friend fly straight into a sticky drop of resin.

"Beetle breakfast," he muttered and looked around.

Not waiting for his friend, Usopp galloped through the forest towards the Silver Mountains where the dragons lived. Not that many of them. Only Luffy, the only young dragon, his father and three others. Humans relentlessly hunted dragons. The Silver Mountains though were protected not only by a vicious griffin, one that by the way had tried to eat Usopp more than once, but also by a mysterious figure commonly known as Sun. Only the dragons had ever really seen this creature, and Luffy familiarly called her Robin the few times Usopp brought it up.

Reaching the end of the forest's soft moss and entering the rocky area of the mountain, Usopp skilfully climbed up, as quietly as he could with his clicking hoofs, passed a narrow passage and entered the dragons nest.

Luffy shared lair with his father just a little bit from the entrance.

"Good morning Luffy and Dragon," the young centaur called happily into the den. He wasn't allowed to go inside, just like the dragons weren't allowed to hunt in the part of the forest the centaurs resided in.

A deep growl answered Usopp's greeting. Anybody else would have run from the sound of a growling monster, but Usopp found no reason to run because of Luffy's loud yawns.

"Usopp? How can it be morning already? I just fell asleep."

"I'm ready for hunting down some breakfast."

The young dragon dashed out of the den. "Breakfast! What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Not so fast, Luffy!"

The centaur colt immediately stepped out of the way for Luffy's father. He was never afraid of Luffy, but the other dragons were scary. Luffy was a small, golden coloured dragon with a dark brown mane of hair trailing along the spine of his long body. His father Dragon (for some reason that was the only name Usopp knew him by) was thoroughly black with angry red scars crossing each other on the left half of his face.

"Don't go too far," the older dragon ordered softly.

The younger dragon smiled a toothy grin. "I won't. I'll bring something back for you."

The black dragon smiled back and bent down to place a kiss on top of his son's head.

"Let's go, Usopp!" Luffy called and spread his wings, his father helping him into the air.

"I'm right behind you!"

They headed for the west side of the forest where preys like wild boars and elks could be found. Luffy soared silently over the treetops as Usopp ran over the roots and stones in the soil, easily keeping up with his hunting partner. After all, Usopp was the fastest runner known for miles around.

The centaur looked up at the flying creature. Admitted, Luffy wasn't the most graceful of all, but he was definitely beautiful when he flew, his golden scales flashing in the sunlight. He was even more beautiful at night when his scales paled and glowed like silver. Usopp figured it had something to do with the dragons' strong connection to the moon. The only dragon who didn't glow in the moonlight was Dragon.

Usopp's pointed ears picked up the sound of rustling and grumblings. Wild boars. Never slowing his pace he grinned and prepared his bow. Jumping over a fallen tree he spotted the prey and fired his arrow while still mid-air. It hit the eye and came out though the other side of the head and the boar fell, dead before he hit the ground.

Chuckling in victory, Usopp lifted up the dead animal on his back and entered a clearing, waiting for Luffy.

"Usoppn!"

"Huh? Oh hi Hercules."

"You left without me!" the beetle screamed and threw a fit.

"Couldn't help it. I don't eat resin."

A shadow fell over them. Hercules immediately hid in Usopp's curly hair. Usopp looked up to see his dragon friend. Luffy clumsily landed in the clearing with its load; two boars in one claw, two elks, one in his mouth and one on his back, and an old log in his other claw. Luffy smiled brightly with the biggest elk in his mouth. Well, Usopp already knew he could never beat Luffy in a hunting game. But still!

"You want me to carry one for you?"

Luffy nodded happily and handed over the two boars so that he had all talons free to carry the log. Usopp sighed and lifted up one boar on his back with his own prey and hoisted the other up on his shoulder.

"Let's head back," he said and the dragon agreed, curled into a sort of spring and jumped, frantically flapping with his wings trying to catch some wind under them. He crashed into a tree, used it as a spring board and managed to get into the air.

"As elegant as always, that dragon," Hercules muttered.

"Yeah, but I guess it isn't that easy with the extra load," Usopp sighed and started moving.

"Why is he carrying a log?"

"Insects and scratchboard."

The black beetle turned green.

"You're the one who asked, Hercules. Don't vomit in my hair."

When Usopp finally returned to the dragons' nest Luffy had already started a fire and had all the dragons gathered. Ivankov, a bright pink gender swapping dragon with a deep purple mane, was tightly wrapped around Dragon's body like a… well… a dragon in heat. It was their mating time after all. Dragon however completely ignored the attention and concentrated on Luffy's catch. Ivankov would go un-laid this season too.

The other two dragons Usopp knew little about. One was black spotted with gold and a red mane that was growing white at the tops. All about him was sharp; eyes, nose, tail, legs… except for the graceful curve of his long body. Usopp wasn't sure if his name was Mihawk or Hawkeye. Both fitted.

The other was completely a white, save for his blue eyes, whereof one was blind from a cut once upon a time. He was old. Much older than the rest together, but not as gloomy as Dragon. His name was Ray, Usopp thought, because Luffy called him "Old Ray".

"There you are, Usopp. I thought you lost yourself."

"Of course not," Usopp scoffed and unloaded himself. "I'm not like that wolf that ran eight laps around the mountains looking for a way out of the forest."

Luffy, Ivankov and Old Ray broke down laughing at that memory. The poor wolf would probably still be chasing his own tail if Luffy hadn't stopped him and turned his nose pointing away from the mountain. The wolf had grumbled, but said thanks and walked away with as much pride as he could, refusing to turn around and glare at the hysterically laughing dragon.

The six of them were just about to start eating when something heavy landed a short way from Usopp. Said centaur threw his hands into the air, raised to his hind legs and screamed. Because it was a dead horse that had landed beside him.

"Good morning, Nami," Old Ray greeted the griffin landing on top of her prey.

"Good morning, all of you."

Usopp hid in the safest place found in the nest; underneath Luffy's wing. Ending up as Nami the griffon's breakfast was not on his list.

"Oi, Nami. Isn't that thing kind of bad?" Luffy asked.

"It is," the griffon sighed and patted the dead beast with her sharp talons. "Stupid humans are careful to lock up their best pets and I'm left to hunt the sick ones just because I'm not allowed to hunt in the forest." At that she sent an accursing glare at the centaur hiding under Luffy's wing.

"Save your anger," Dragon said calmly. "It is not the centaurs' fault humans are greedy."

"I know that! I wish humans were edible but they taste worse than rat meat."

"Here, Usopp," Luffy suddenly offered a stick with grilled meat to his hiding friend.

"Oh, thanks."

They ate under much silence, and Usopp distracted himself from Nami and her breakfast by trying to keep Luffy from tying a knot on his neck. It happened once in a while they had to help him sort out that long body of his. Old Ray voiced how he hoped Luffy would learn some body coordination before finding a mate.

"About mates," Usopp asked once done eating. "Is Ivankov the last… eh… female dragon?"

"Who knows," Old Ray answered as he chewed on a bone. "We're all widowers, not Ivankov though, so we haven't gone to look for any."

"Widower? Then Luffy's mother too?"

"What's a widower?" Luffy asked, looking at his father questioningly.

"A male that has lost his mate," Dragon explained.

"Oh. So dad is a widower because mom died?"

The black dragon nodded his head. Luffy seemed to notice the sudden grief in his father's eyes and immediately brought the log to him.

"There're beetles in it!"

That was Usopp's cue to leave. Hercules was still hiding in his hair, and watching dragons feed on other beetles would not end well.

"I'll see you later," he called and exited the nest to run back to the forest and his home.

Hercules wobbly left his hairy hiding place. "See you, Usoppn," he said and made a beeline towards the nearest bush. The centaur trotted away, pointedly ignoring the sound of vomiting from the bush.

While heading for his favourite shooting place, Usopp thought about the stories Luffy had told him about his mother. Apparently she had been a crimson red dragon named Shanks. Strong and beautiful. Usopp had asked how Luffy could be so bright coloured when his parents were dark. Dragon had explained that dark parents had pale children and the other way around. Why that was Dragon didn't know. Now Usopp also knew why he had never gotten to meet Luffy's mother; she had died. Figuring out how she had lost her life wasn't even hard, because there was a story Luffy never told. He had started, saying that his mother was braver than anyone. After that he always stopped talking and changed subject.

Dragon slayers. Usopp hoped Greenwood forest would never see any of those detested humans.

"Hey Usopp. Where are you going?"

"Huh? Oh. Hi Sanji." Usopp looked up to find he had been so deep in thought he had almost passed the clearing where he practiced archery.

"Did you go to see the dragons again?"

"Luffy's alright, and Dragon isn't interested in me."

"Then what about gorgeous Lady Gryphon that came to the Silver Mountains last year? Horse is their favourite food."

"Dad convinced the dragons to not hunt us centaurs as long as we left them alone; Nami has to follow those rules too. Unlike you, we're not immortal and there are few enough of us as there is without us killing each other."

"True," Sanji said quietly and stepped out from the shadows, his gold coloured skin gleaming in the sunlight. He was a golden deer man, like a centaur but with a deer bottom instead, and horns on his head. He was definitely one of the very last of his race, if he wasn't the last already. There weren't many of them to begin with.

"Did you make new arrows for me?" Usopp asked excitedly.

"I have them right here. I already delivered a share to your father and his friends. Here, try them out."

Yup, that was Sanji for you. His magic was strongly connected to the earth. Even though the centaurs could make their own arrows and bows, Sanji did it many times better.

"How have you been, by the way?" Usopp asked as he strained the bow and aimed for the target tablet a few yards away. "You found anything around the forest edges?"

"I did actually. A stupid couple of men entered the north part of the forest, planning to settle down and build a village for their families."

Usopp chuckled and sent the arrow flying. "How did you chase them away?"

"I pretended to be an old man cursed by the forest," Sanji told him proudly, crossing his arms over his boosted chest with one leg lifted to mark just how brilliant he was.

Usopp laughed out loud. Because Sanji's race had the ability of illusion magic, he could easily fool a human into believing he was anything he wanted them to see.

"What kind of curse?" the centaur asked giggling.

"I pretended to have been devoured by a tree because I tried to cut it down."

By now Usopp was jumping with laugher. "I so wish I could have seen their faces!" he laughed. "Stupid humans."

"Be careful, Usopp," Sanji warned. "Underestimating mankind has killed you before."

"Way to ruin the fun, gold deer."

"I say it because I don't want you to die before your time. I will be here when the Silver Mountains are nothing but dust. You won't."

Usopp sighed with annoyance. Sanji was right, of course. But he didn't have to be so moody because of that. It was his strange way to say he cared though, so Usopp could hardly tell him to stop.

He pulled the string of his bow and sent another arrow flying.

"You've been experimenting again," he noted with excitement. "I haven't seen an arrow fly so straight before."

"I found a weeping willow by the river in the south. The smoothest arrows are made from the wood of the weeping willow."

"So there are still willows left in the forest? Huh? I thought they all moved when the trolls left the mountains a hundred years ago."

"They did," Sanji confirmed with a nod. "It seems they are being herded back though. There are few places left for them to set their roots. Greenwoods seem to be the only free forest left in the world."

Usopp fired another three arrows, now in anger. "Damn monsters! Are they determined to kill everything alive? At the pace things are going by there will be no magic at all left in the world."

"Calm down, Usopp. Anger will be your downfall."

The centaur impatiently stomped his hooves. It was good that Sanji was around, or the centaur tribe might have been wiped out by now. Sure, they were strong and the best archers, but they were few. Humans could as well be compared to ants; endless in numbers and attacked in hordes. Very unfair.

"Anyway. Thanks for the arrows. I promise not to waste them."

"The only centaur I know who ever missed a target was that stupid braggart Higuma. I'm sure you've heard what happened to him."

"'Course I have. The song about 'Braggart Higuma whose arrow strayed' was mother's favourite song when I was a foal."

"So they're still singing songs about it? Then maybe I should visit the maidens to entertain them the story."

To that Usopp chose not to respond. For being ageless, Sanji sure liked young centaur mares.

"I'm going back to the others now," he said instead. "They should be around the bend of the river."

"Be safe," Sanji called after him.

"Sure!"

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><p>It was dusk when Usopp dropped the last stone for the day and stretched his arms. The centaurs had been working hard since the day before to dig up a wall around the river bend so that the water wouldn't start digging a new canal through the forest. The work was only temporary, since nature will always do as she pleases in the end, but it slowed the water's progress and gave the trees time to move or die. Not all trees could move, and those who could did so very slowly. Weeping willows were the most restless trees though and moved around a lot and fast.<p>

"Thanks for today, son," Yasopp said and affectionately patted Usopp's hair with his rough hand.

"You too, pops," the younger centaur laughed.

Yasopp was Usopp's idol. An Ardennes centaur with dirty yellow skin and raw muscle. He was brave as nothing else Usopp knew of and the leader of the tribe. Usopp's highest dream was to become as great a leader as his father.

"How much longer do you think we'll have to work?" Ben asked. He was black a shire centaur with white feathering at the fetlock, scars every here and there and cool attitude. Though he was bigger and possibly stronger than Yasopp, he didn't really have what it took to lead the pack. Usopp was happy Ben was aware of this, otherwise there would have been a battle to death between his father and Ben, something he definitely didn't want to see.

"I think we'll be done sometime tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The rain shouldn't come until another few days."

Ben nodded and scrapped his hoofs in greeting before he left.

"Well, that's that, I suppose," Yasopp said and turned towards the forest. "What do you wanna do now, Usopp? Some quality time with your old man?"

"Really? I'd love to!"

The elder centaur laughed. "Then let's see who can get to the dead oak first."

"Eat my dust, pops!" Usopp said and started running. He was definitely the forests' best runner, but Yasopp wasn't bad either, plus, he had longer legs. Usopp had to use every trick he knew of to actually keep ahead of his father.

But suddenly he stopped, and Yasopp galloped by him like the wind. Usopp just stood there, staring at something suspicious with one leg lifted in attention.

"Son, what happened?"

The younger centaur hesitantly looked towards his father. "Can you see that?"

Yasopp followed his son's gaze and his eyes narrowed. Without a word he took out his bow and put an arrow in place. The sharp projectile whistled and a snap of wire echoed in Usopp's ears.

Yasopp spat on the ground and carefully moved towards the disarmed trap, eyes spying the ground for more of them. He let another two arrows fly.

"They are set up for us," Yasopp figured with a snarl. "Somebody is taking us way too lightly."

"Humans?" Usopp squeaked fearfully.

"Humans. I have to warn the tribe. Go back to your mother."

Usopp did not have to be pressed. He ran screaming his head off. Ever heard a lighthouse mist horn before? Usopp was louder. The only reason he stopped screaming was because he ran straight into Ben's massive body.

"Usopp! What happened?" the larger centaur demanded, holding a firm grip of the hair of the colt's neck.

"I found a trap in the forest and pops said it was meant for us! Now humans have begun to hunt us down too!"

Ben's grip only hardened until Usopp cried more from the pain of that than from fear.

"Ben! You're hurting me!"

"Oh. Forgive me, boy. I will be more careful to control my…"

"Anger."

The two turned to find Sanji standing there, a few drops of sweat glistening on his chest.

"Don't act rashly, boys. Even if the humans are in fact setting up traps to catch you, you're smarter than to get caught in them. Isn't Usopp proof enough to that. He saw the trap after all."

Ben stomped with his hoofs and gripped his bow, but then gave in to the golden deer man's words. Sanji had saved them numerous times in the past, and would keep saving them as long as they listened to him.

"USOPP!"

The three quadrupeds jumped aside as something long and glistening crashed loudly right beside them and tore up a long line in the soil. Luffy lifted his head, shook it free from dirt and looked around, jumping when he found the one he had been looking for.

"Usopp! I head you scream! What happened?"

"Oh… right. I found traps in the forest set up for centaurs! Pops said they were made by humans! The humans are trying to catch us too now! What are we going to do! Sanjiiii!"

"Oi. Calm down, Usopp," the golden deer man said and patted the colt's butt. "Nobody has been caught."

Luffy growled, his long body trembling and his scales stood out slightly from his body. If anybody tried to grab him now they would end up torn to pieces by the scales.

"Fucking humans! I'm gonna…"

"NOT YOU!" Sanji screamed enraged and with his hind legs kicked the hot-headed dragon's head into a beech.

The young dragon looked back with a teary expression and holding a swollen cheek. The deer man sighed and walked up to him. He lay down and took Luffy's head into his arms, gently stroking the harm he had done.

"Not you, Luffy," he said gently. "You're a dragon. What do you think the humans will do if they ever figure out there are dragons left in the Silver Mountains?"

Luffy's bottom lip trembled. Usopp felt for him and went to unknot Luffy's tail and fold his disarrayed wings. Once done he lay down beside the dragon's neck and patted the soft mane of hair on his back.

"Sanji's right you know, Luffy," he said, attempting to comfort his friend. "Besides, Dragon would be devastated if anything happened to you."

Luffy made an unhappy sound. "That's what mom said before she attacked the dragon hunters to buy me enough time to escape," he mumbled.

"Your mother was one of the bravest," Sanji stated with slight awe. "I wish I could have seen her."

A shadow fell over them and Ben, who had been watching from a safe distance instantly prepared his bow.

"It's dad," Luffy said.

Usopp looked up. The sky was dark, but the black silhouette of Dragon's body could still be made out where he covered the stars. Another dragon passed by over them, this one glowing purely white in the faint moonlight.

"Bet you got them worried," Sanji said and stood. "Come on, Luffy. I'll help you back into the air."

The young dragon sighed and stood. Usopp stood too and moved out of the way. Luffy jumped and flapped with his wings, failing to gain height and instead landed on Sanji's hind legs that kicked him high into the air. Hit by the moonlight, Luffy glowed and sparkled like silver. He partly disappeared from sight when Dragon flew around him, and then all three dragons made it back to the Silver Mountains.

"It's late now," Sanji said. "You should go back to your tribe. Ben. I'll check the outer part of the forest tonight and come back to you around noon tomorrow."

"I'll inform Yasopp," the shire centaur nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

I really thought there'd be only two chapters, but this one kept growing longer and longer, so now it's suddely a three-shot. Please tell me what you think. Is it confusing? I'm sorry if it is, but if you can point out in what way it doesn't make sense, please tell me and I'll make sure to correct the error.

A big thank you to Lady Gryphon's Mythical Realm for providing so much information on legends and mythical creatures.

Note; I don't know much about horse anatomy, so if you know better than I and notice I've made mistakes, tell me what and where and I'll correct it. Promise!

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><p>The morning arrived quietly. Usopp, being the eldest colt guarded the mares and foals as the grown centaurs patrolled the area around them. The night had given them little comfort and only the youngest foals had slept a little. Usopp felt how his eyes stung from sleeplessness and he most of all wanted to lean against a tree and sleep through the day, but with the possible threat of humans around he knew he wouldn't have slept if he tried.<p>

The sound of hoofs alerted the group for a moment before Lucky Rough, a very chubby centaur, emerged from the shadows of the forest, slowly approaching the group of women and children carrying two large elks.

"Breakfast," was all he said as he put them down on a well measured distance from the females. Because you don't want to get too close to nervous centaur meres. They might end up killing you.

"Thank you, Lucky," Shakky, a black centaur mare and the eldest female of the tribe, said and scrapped her hoofs. Lucky returned her greeting before wordlessly turning back into the greenery.

The mares immediately started cooking the elks. Usopp would normally hang over their backs to try to steal a little, but today he didn't feel like eating a lot. Instead he stood perfectly still and looked to the Silver Mountains, wondering how Luffy was.

Something warm pulled at his hand.

"Usopp, aren't you going to steal food today?" Tamanegi asked. He was a young foal that some of the elder foals often made fun of because of his bad sight. That he was a pony centaur didn't help his case.

"No," Usopp answered and smiled down at the foal. "I'm the look-out and must always be alert on the surroundings." He stretched his back, crossed his arms and importantly lifted a leg to prove just how important his position was. "Since the tribe is in danger, Master Usopp must take responsibility for the women and children to stay safe and stuffed. Even if I have to starve to death to ensure you all have enough to eat, it will only make me proud as long as you are safe."

Tamanegi's face shone with admiration, not realizing half of what Usopp said was a lie. But it was for a good thing. After all, they didn't have to scare the foals any more than the situation itself already did.

"Tamanegi! We have to stay with mama!" another foal called out, nervously stomping with his hoofs.

"Ninjin nii-san."

"You better go with your brother, Tamanegi," Usopp encouraged. "Don't want your mother and brothers to worry about you."

The foal looked a little disappointed, but nodded and trotted up to his brother and followed him back to wherever their mother and eldest brother were at.

For a second, Usopp caught a glimpse of the only white mare of the tribe; Kaya. Her long, angelic pale blonde hair was pulled back in pigtails today, hanging over her back and shoulders. Her eyes were red from lack of sleep and crying. Usopp had heard her during the night, along with some other mares and nervous foals. Of course Kaya ought to be frightened. Three years ago both her parents had vanished. Not even Sanji had managed to find them. They couldn't blame Nami, since she hadn't been around by that time, and the dragons hadn't taken them. Luffy was the one who had convinced the centaur tribe they were innocent with the comment; "Eating centaurs? Are they good?" Because Luffy was the only young and growing dragon there was no way the others wouldn't have shared any possible captured centaur with him. The only suspects left were humans. Usopp didn't want to think further than that.

Usopp's ears perked at the sound of galloping. His father's galloping none the less.

"Mother! Father is here!" he called into the tight group of cooking mares.

At his voice the dully beige mare that was Usopp's mother stood and left the crowd. Yasopp became visible between the trees and stopped in his tracks, but continued to impatiently stomp with his hoofs.

"Dearest," Usopp's mother called out and trotted up to him.

"I have news for you all," Yasopp called out so that everyone could hear him. "Sanji has been spying around the edge of the forest. He has confirmed that the traps found yesterday were indeed made by humans and intended for us. There is apparently a large scale farm being built near the edge. The leader seems to think that centaurs would make excellent workers for the farm."

The mares started whispering and foals were shoved in under their mothers' bodies and arms. Usopp just stood gaping. Farmworkers? Them? Just what on earth did those foolish humans think they were? Pets?

"Stay calm," Yasopp's safe voice interrupted the stressed whispering. "We have found and disarmed all traps. The humans should take a hint now. We will stay low for now. If those humans keep setting up traps… we will tell them more directly to leave us alone."

As he said that, he lifted his bow slightly to make his point. The elder mares agreed solemnly, the younger started stomping around from nervousness, the foals held onto their mothers. Usopp's face was set in a grim grimace and he crossed his arms, unknowingly bringing up his shoulders. He couldn't deny he felt trapped. Even though he didn't really want to join the males on their outer guard duty (it could be dangerous) staying with the mares right now wasn't good either. He wasn't a leader and didn't have the strength of a full grown centaur, so if the mares broke into panic there would be nothing he could do.

"Usopp, Ben will take over here and you'll guard the edge of the forest with us."

"Really…" Usopp stared happily at his father before he realized what that meant. "If Ben is coming then I can stay with mother and…"

"You're coming with me, son," Yasopp said noncommittally and grabbed his son by the ear.

"Ouch! Pops, I can walk by myself."

"Of course. In which direction had you thought of walking?"

The colt flushed slightly and looked skyward. There he suddenly spotted a faint flash of gold.

"Luffy?"

"Hm?" Yasopp stopped and followed his son's gaze. "Where?"

Usopp squinted. It was hard to see through the leaves, but he was fairly certain.

"I have to check."

The colt ran towards the hill where he usually watched the sunrise and where he had a clearer view of the sky. Yasopp followed. He was well aware of human's desire for dragons and that Luffy possibly was the last born dragon in the entire world. If he was spotted by humans it could mean the end for the dragon race.

"Where is he?"

Usopp spied with squinted eyes, confused that he couldn't spot his golden friend. He was sure he had seen the sun flash off Luffy's scales. Instead a streak of white rising from the Silver Mountains caught his eye.

"I can't find Luffy, but he's definitely out. Otherwise Old Ray wouldn't leave the nest."

"There are two dragons out?" Yasopp asked bewildered. "Where?"

"Right over there. Old Ray is that white streak right there."

Yasopp squinted as he followed the pointing finger of his son. Still it took a few seconds before he spotted it.

"That?" he asked. "Is that a dragon?"

"Yup," Usopp said absent-mindedly, still trying to locate Luffy in the blue above.

"Your sight is something else, son. I would never have known if you hadn't pointed it out to me."

That had the colt's attention. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I've seen streaks like that against the sky since I was a little foal, but always thought they were little pieces of clouds coloured by the sun."

"But they are moving," Usopp said with disbelief.

"I can hardly see that. Those streaks are there one second and then they are gone."

Usopp gaped. So there might be other dragons around? He had to tell that to Luffy and Dragon, just in case they couldn't tell a dragon from a streak of cloud in the sky.

"We centaurs have sharper sight than humans, so if we can hardly see the dragons, then there is no way the humans can," Yasopp said calmly and scrapped with his hoof. "But we still have to guard the forest edge when the barbarians come looking for _us_."

"Right," Usopp agreed… wait. No, his fear was not in control. He could handle himself. He always had his loyal bow and arrows, and his sight was sharp… "Pops, I can't go. I suffer from the deadly if-I-guard-the-forest-edge-I-will-die disease."

Yasopp yanked his son in the ear and pulled him along.

* * *

><p>The day went, and evening fell over the waiting forest. Even the ever present wind was quiet, as if holding its breath for what was to come. The Silver Mountains towered over the trees, ancient and solemn. Something was definitely about to happen, Usopp thought.<p>

The young centaur had found a large oak with about the same colour as his skin, so he lay against it, covered himself with dry leaves and lay perfectly still under them in an attempt to avoid notice. Sanji had walked past a moment ago, given him one blank look before he continued on his way. Usopp had grit his teeth to keep from yelling after the golden deer-man. Sanji had had a lot of years to refine his hiding skills and he had the ability to use illusions. So what? Usopp had a good enough cover for him without using magic.

The dark was creeping up on them and a thin mist rolled through the forest. Surprisingly, the longer it took for the humans to come, the more nervous Usopp felt. All around him the rest of the centaur tribe was hiding, prepared with their bows and arrows. Usopp caught himself wishing the humans would come already, and mentally berated himself for such thinking. Of course he hoped the humans wouldn't come at all! But waiting for them was much too tiring. If he continued like this Usopp would have no energy left for when and if the humans actually came. He had to relax.

A light danced between the trees… No, not one. Usopp squinted. He had never seen light like those before. A long time ago, when he was only a foal, he had seen fairy light, they resembled the lights that danced between the trees now but there were major differences. These were red, yellow and orange and only bounced forward in slow, gentle hops. It wasn't until the first light in the line stopped that Usopp could see what caused the lights. Right there in the mist under the light the young centaur could see the silhouette of a human.

They were here.

Stiff, on the verge of petrified from fright, Usopp slowly turned his head to look around. He couldn't see anyone. Usopp had never felt so small and lonely and scared, like a little foal. He shook his head. No, this wasn't the time to be scared. The tribe counted on him. He was Usopp the centaur, powerful guardian of this forest.

The lights were still a little far away, nothing that bothered Usopp and his loyal bow. The dry leaves he had covered himself with rustled slightly, but humans are stupid and can't hear well. Usopp prepared his bow and put an arrow to the string. He couldn't aim that well because of the trees, so he had to count the distance between each human and hope his timing wasn't off.

Far away a dog barked and Usopp released his arrow.

* * *

><p>The farmers and a few knights walked through the forest armed with ropes, hoping to catch the centaurs in their sleep. Beside the farm-owner, who was right now sleeping soundly in his comfortable bed, only one of the farmers had actually ever seen a real-life centaur. Nobody knew about the knights though, but they seemed to know how to go about this hunt. No dogs, they had ordered, because centaurs are half horses and therefore fast to escape. Dogs would only alarm the creatures.<p>

"I'm still stunned," a man whispered behind him to his friend. "All the traps closed and not a single rat in them."

"Indeed," his friend whispered back. "No blood at all, so they can't have gotten caught and broken out. The centaur I saw looked strong, yes, but I'd never suspect they had some intellect."

Someone behind hushed at them, and they jumped slightly at the distant bark of a dog. A soft thud was heard and the second man walked into the first.

Glaring at his friend for stopping he was surprised to see him fall like a tree with an arrow sticking out from the side of his chest. For a moment the surrounding men just stood there dumbfounded.

* * *

><p>Usopp lay perfectly still, staring intently at the line of lights and shadows. The line had stopped around where he had aimed but there wasn't a single sound. Had he hit someone or not? Either way his arrow couldn't have just passed the humans unnoticed. There had to be some sort of reaction.<p>

The young centaur's sharp ears made out the quiet sounds from two bows releasing their arrows close by. Good. That meant he wasn't as alone as he first had thought. And now, after being hit by three arrows, finally the humans reacted.

"Geez, are they slow or what?" Usopp muttered to himself.

A thin centaur slipped out of a bush and quietly walked over to where Usopp lay.

"Yasopp's orders. Stay low and fire when they have their back's turned."

"Got it," Usopp nodded and the thin centaur continued on his reporting quest.

The humans were panicking even worse than a horde of frightened centaur mares. Usopp had thought of them as dangerous before, now he started to rethink his opinion. But a frightened animal can also bite.

A voice hollered through the forest and the humans stilled. The voice continued to yell and the humans moved, now with more precision than before.

So they have a leader, huh? Usopp thought and glanced over his shoulder, not because he heard or sensed anything, only a nervous habit so to say. He'd never suspected to actually find a human standing there with a rope ready.

To the centaur tribe it was lucky that human picked Usopp of all centaurs to sneak up on. No other man of the tribe would have screamed as loudly to alert the entire forest of the danger. Unfortunately though, Usopp dashed straight forward to avoid the rope coming at him, which lead him almost into the arms of the men with the torches.

Usopp's speciality was to run. Well, all centaurs could run of course, but Usopp was faster and had slightly quicker reflexes. The downside of his personality was that he couldn't think of attacking while fleeing.

"It's here!" Usopp heard a human voice call out, at the same time he realized there was a human right in front of him and dug his heels into the soil to stop his pace, lifting up his front body to kick out so the human would get away from him.

A rope caught Usopp's arm and threw him slightly off balance.

"I have it!"

"Never!"

Usopp, instead of trying to tug his arm free, charged for the human and hit him with the side of his body, grabbing the man's knife from the belt while he was at it to cut the rope off, never losing speed.

Now the young centaur had gotten himself together enough to start thinking fast. After cutting off the long end of the rope Usopp pulled out his bow and arrows, turned his upper body mid-jump and fired. What he didn't expect was for something hard to collide with his side, throwing his body heavily to the ground where he kicked with his legs to roll around and stand back up. But he wasn't fast enough. More rope tied his hind legs together and tugged to keep Usopp out of balance.

"Got you now, half-man," a rough voice growled.

"I don't think so," someone else yelled.

The attacker was kicked off him. Had Usopp ever been so happy to see Sanji before? Probably not. Sanji however had taken the shape of a bare-chested human man with black trousers.

Usopp's attacker turned around and his eyes strangely reflected the moon's light just like an animal's. "Huh? What are you doing, protecting the centaur? Aren't you one of us?" he growled dangerously.

Usopp wanted to retort, saying Sanji was holy compared to the dirty human race, but Sanji beat him to it.

"Don't flatter yourself, man-witch. My strength far surpasses yours."

Usopp haltered for a second. Man-witch? Sanji liked to frighten the colts with stories about them; the witches' sons with human appearance but animalistic strength and some even had animal abilities. They were on the humans' side?

The attacker, the man-witch, snorted and tossed with his head so that his long tail of hair moved to his back. "Your strength surpasses mine, you say?" He pulled at his long Fu Manchu moustaches in a thoughtful motion. "You smell like the forest, so I can tell you're no simple human. What are you?"

"I'll leave you to figure it out on your own, man-witch. Usopp, get away from here."

The centaur was happy to comply. He cut his legs free, picked up his bow and fallen arrows and ran off.

The forest edge had turned into chaos. The centaurs were at a disadvantage due to the stupid humans having dropped their torches, setting dry leaves on fire that spread fast. Caught between the humans' ropes and putting out the fire the centaurs were doomed to lose this battle.

Usopp thought fast. He saw his father and Lucky Rough back to back holding their ground with short swords, they didn't need help, but the centaurs trying to stomp out the fire really did need help. Fire frightened anybody, but it seemed the humans were too stupid to understand they too were in danger because of the fire.

Gritting his teeth in anger and desperation Usopp rushed forward and jumped into the flames, kicking up as much soil as possible. It helped a little, but it burnt his skin.

A hard hand reached out and pulled him out of the fire.

"You reckless little idiot," his father growled at him. He was about to continue when the glimmer of metal alerted him of an attack.

It was another man-witch! Unlike the one Sanji was currently fighting, this one was definitely a man-witch. His skin colour was a bright orange and his square neck about as long as the rest of his body. Usopp might have laughed at the fact that this man-witch had an allover square body if the situation hadn't been as desperate as it was. Now was the time to get out of the way. If his father was fighting there was no place for him in the battle. All he could do was aim and hope he'd hit the target.

Escaping into the shadows of the forest, away from the flames, Usopp thought he'd have some distance to work from. Hopefully there were no more man-witches.

From his hiding spot in the dancing darkness the young centaur colt had a good view of what was happening in the light of the growing flames. It was thanks to those red and yellow tongues of fire that Usopp noticed the shape of an unnaturally large owl. Another man-witch!

Usopp hesitated only a second, but the owl had definitely locked eyes on one of the stronger centaurs, so Usopp let his arrow fly, hitting the owl in the head. It made a sound somewhere in between surprise and pain when it fell with its arms waving around. Short arms for an owl, Usopp thought, but knew he wouldn't have to waste another arrow on it. The centaur the owl had aimed for had noticed the man-witch and would finish it.

The fire was really spreading! The still fire fighting centaurs had to retreat and the rest with them. Usopp worriedly wondered how Sanji was fending in the flames. Ageless he might be, but the fire could very well kill him. But there was nothing a single centaur can do against a wildfire. Usopp couldn't even take a run around it just to check on the golden deer-man.

"Damn! You stupid humans!" Usopp cursed and turned to run deeper into the forest; the only place to go to. The mares were still in there, along with a lot of other animals and mythical creatures. Not all trees could move, and those that could wouldn't be fast enough.

A flash of silver in the sky. Usopp stopped, standing perfectly still staring at it.

It couldn't be...

A screeching roar sounded and a white flame flooded from the young dragon's mouth.

It was.

"Luffy, you fool! What are you doing here you stupid dragon!" Usopp yelled angrily and followed his silvery glowing friend back to the battlefield.

Luffy's white flame ate the red ones, and when the young dragon's long body clumsily landed, the fire was out, leaving only a few remaining embers. He roared again.

Every human had heard of dragons. But seeing one was a very different experience. For most it was the cue to run and run fast. They left their few resisting prices and turned their tails. The four who remained were most probably all man-witches, whereof one was the square long-neck, with a few additional, bleeding wounds.

Luffy growled at them with every glowing scale pointing out and his tail twitching around. Usopp joined up right beside him. The wounded centaurs were escaping, those who could still fight hid in the forest's shadows. They were mainly archers after all. They could do more harm from a distance.

It was Usopp and Luffy against four man-witches. The dragon growled, sparks in his mouth and ready for a fight, but Usopp suddenly realized his position. He too was an archer, so what was he doing in the middle of the battlefield?

"My, my, my," a sweet, female voice sounded. Usopp jumped, his head spinning to find the speaker.

The man-witches turned around, and behind them a small white, fluffy cloud was growing bigger until it was about the size of a curled up, grown human body.

Usopp stared. A slim, pale-skinned pair of human legs reached down from the cloud to the ground and the upper body of a human female lifted from the cloud's top. The cloud itself snaked around the woman's body, took solid shape, so that behind the man-witches stood a beautiful woman with long, blonde hair, blue eyes and fluffy cloths that revealed a lot of pale skin. The most noticeable about her was the goat-horns on her head.

"Mother," the man-witches greeted respectfully.

Usopp froze. The man-witches called this strange female "mother"? But man-witches were born from witches. So this fluffy lady was… a real witch?

The woman smiled sweetly, her eyes fixed on Luffy.

"A real dragon youngster. I had almost lost hope to see one within my lifespan."

"Your life won't last much longer, witch!" shouted a voice from above.

The day when Usopp didn't get scared of Nami the griffon was yet to come. Even now he took a leap over Luffy's body to put some distance between him and Nami. Luckily he was good at jumping too or he might have gotten his legs cut away by Luffy's razor-sharp scales.

The man-witches took a step back and drew their shoulders backwards in awareness of the griffon's strength. Dragons are dangerous enough, but every witch worth her salt knows their weakness. A griffon on the other hand, especially a female one, is never to be taken lightly.

"Ease, my sweet," the witch cooed.

Her sons moved to her sides where they probably felt the safest. She counted them and frowned.

"I have six sons," she stated with a cold voice and locked her eyes on the griffon. "Where are my last two sons?"

"How should I know," Nami retorted with a scoff.

The witch gritted her teeth. "You insolent horse-hunter."

Nami lowered her head, prepared for an attack.

"I killed one of them."

Witch and man-witches' attention sharply turned to the only centaur left within sight. Usopp, though on shaky legs, stood his ground with a stubborn face.

"Be not angry with the centaur, fair lady."

Sanji's voice. The witches turned and their eyes widened. The golden deer-man had had to take his original form and stood leaning against a tree, holding his bleeding left side with one hand and a pretty big, nasty-looking scratch on his left front leg's shoulder. All over his body there were scratches as from claws and bruises were starting to form on his chest and the side of his forehead. For some reason he was even more stunningly beautiful than normal, as if the deep-red blood and tired expression were only an illusion to lure the unsuspecting human into his trap. But Usopp's heart clenched at the sight. Sanji wounded could only mean that he had had troubles with the man-witch he had fought. He wouldn't be able to fight another one!

"A golden deer-man," the witch breathed with ecstasy. "This detested forest is full of the most precious prices. I will make you my dearest possession."

"I'd love to," Sanji answered without hesitation, but with a mocking smirk.

"Sanji! What are you saying?" Usopp screamed at him.

The golden deer-man raised a bloodied hand at him and pushed himself from the tree. "I would love to be yours, fair lady, but you would not treasure me knowing…" he stepped into a ray of moonlight so that everybody could see his whole body, whereof one of his  
>hind legs was covered with blood like a knee length sock "that I just killed your wolf son," he finished.<p>

"Jyabura?" one of the man-witches breathed in disbelief.

The witch was not so cool about it.

"You? My son. My sweet…!" Her white cloths started to boil and swirl and even more of the bubbling substance, like foam, emerged from her hands. "I curse you forever!"

She threw a swirling, boiling substance Sanji's way, but he didn't move.

"Sanji!" Usopp cried and prepared to shoot, but didn't know what to aim at.

Luffy short forward at the witch, intending to head-butt her, but was stopped by the man-witches.

Nami also dashed, but in Sanji's direction. The golden deer-man almost swallowed his tongue. He could survive a curse, he knew, but these young people still tried to save him! Even the gorgeous Lady Gryphon!

A black streak passed him.

The witch's magic hit Nami dead on and she was completely covered in white, boiling foam.

"Lady Gryphon!"

"Dammit! Nami!" Usopp yelled. Sanji was wounded and now Nami was cursed! How would Luffy win this battle with only Usopp as ally? Where was Dragon when you needed him?

A bright blue light flashed inside the boiling cloud surrounding Nami, and it was brushed away, revealing a much smaller form of the bright sunset-coloured griffon as well as a unicorn. A black unicorn with a glowing horn.

"Robin!" Luffy called out happily.

Sanji let out a breath from relief. "Beautiful Robin. You are here at last."

"I could never let Luffy fight alone," the unicorn said with a smile. "I will tend your wounds later too. Rest now, you have done everything you can."

"Thank you. Lady Gryphon?"

Nami slowly looked up. Usopp still stood safely behind Luffy, but Nami's obvious change made even him feel pity.

Sanji too choked at the sight.

Nami the griffon had indeed been cursed. She still had wings, talons, lion legs and paws and a tail, but her gracious and powerful body had shrunk, gotten thinner and lost a good deal of its graceful line. Her strong beak was gone and her pointy ears had fallen lower on the sides of her head, even changed form and grown a little. The white feathers on her belly and face were gone, revealing ivory skin.

Nami had the face and body shape of a human!

"My body!" she screeched. "My beautiful body! How could this happen? Such a wrenched form! What did you do to me, you witch?"

Robin the unicorn stepped in front of the now griffin-woman, glaring warningly at the witch.

"I won't let you fulfil your curse," she said.

"I'd like to see you try and stop me, dirt-blood," the witch scoffed back. "What can you, a mare half-breed unicorn, do against me, a pure-blood witch?"

"I stopped the curse already," Robin answered softly. "The threat young Nami makes isn't gone. She can still fight, and I will too."

The witch smirked, giggled, threw her head back laughing.

"You will fight me? How not cute. Such a young griffin is impulsive. You, many times her age, will never be able to keep up with her."

"We'll see about that."

All of a sudden Luffy charged again, aiming for one of the man-witches, snapping with his powerful jaws. The surprise of the attack caught the man-witches off guard, and one of them got a cut on his cheek, something he certainly didn't seem to like.

"The dragon is mine," he growled angrily.

"Don't lose temper, my sweet," the witch warned.

Usopp quickly summed up the situation. Sanji was out of battle, Nami, cursed or not, and that black unicorn would take on the witch. Luffy against the strongest-looking man-witch, one that would probably keep his claws full. Usopp himself stood alone against no less than three man-witches.

Not good.


	3. Chapter 3

Finally the final chapter. For all of you waiting for updates of my other stories, don't worry. Since I have one less story to worry about now I'm going right back to my main ones (and hopefully I won't be stupid enough to start any new projects in the near future...)

One Piece with characters (c) Eiichiro Oda

* * *

><p>Three man-witches against one centaur colt. It didn't take a genius to calculate the outcome. Other than being outnumbered Usopp was an archer; at his best on a distance and the man-witches specialised on hand to hand combat.<p>

Usopp would soon be a very dead centaur.

The long-necked man-witch spoke up. "I fought two rather troublesome centaurs before, this one however seems unworthy of our attention."

Such a comment is insulting to anybody, Usopp's pride too.

"Yoi, yoi," the second spoke in a loud voice, a lion-witch if the wild, pale gold mane of hair was a hint. "Only a child. Indeeeed uuunwooorthyyyyy."

They were pushing it on purpose. Usopp was sure of it.

"A colt, not a child yet not a fully grown centaur," the third stated with a bored voice, the horns on his head indicating he was either a cow or a bull-witch. "Let's have him for dinner tomorrow."

"You man-eating monsters!" Usopp screamed.

"You are only half a man, centaur," the long-necked man-witch corrected, taking a step forward and got into a stance, ready to attack.

"That's not what I meant, you witch!"

"Oi! I happen to be a man, so I am a man-witch."

"Like I care! It's the same thing in the end!"

All three man-witches stood in attack-stances now. Usopp stiffened, knowing he wouldn't be able to get out of this one alive.

The ground vibrated slightly. It could be because Luffy just crashed heavily against it, but Usopp was a centaur of this forest and had a strong bond with the earth, and Luffy's trashing and Nami's clumsy jumping around was not the only thing he could feel in the vibrations under his hoofs. Something else was coming their way.

The man-witches attacked and everything happened at the same time. Usopp jumped and kicked with his all his four legs, hitting an innocent tree trunk and a hard limb. Something pale brown came running from the left and picked up the lion-witch, continuing its course straight into a rock. The long-necked man-witch was also attacked, but his attacker was black and much smaller.

When the scene stilled the odds could be called evened out. Usopp saw a figure he recognized; it had been about two or three years ago, and the large wolf had lost an eye during those years.

"The lost wolf!" Usopp called out with surprise.

"Don't call me that!"

The man-witches regrouped. The lion-witch, with a bloodied nose, was turned to pretty large elk whose nose was blue. The elk scrapped its hoofs in preparation of battle.

"Zoro. I can smell your family from these people," the elk said, daring a glance at the wolf.

"Me too, Chopper," Zoro the wolf answered bitterly.

"Your family?" Usopp dared ask as he prepared his bow.

The long-necked man-witch glared at the wolf. "I do believe I have seen this lone wolf before."

The wolf growled, his muscular body trembling and fur standing straight in anger.

"Don't let them anger you, Zoro," the elk warned.

"Zoro?" the bull-witch queried. "Wasn't that what Jyabura said the wolf pack we killed the other day kept howling?"

Usopp felt cold shivers ran through his spine from neck to tail. The man-witches had killed a pack of wolves? A whole pack? He glanced at the black wolf with empathy. If Usopp was the sole survivor of the centaur tribe he'd seek revenge too, if only to die like his family.

"A surviving wolf?" the long-necked man-witch asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's not good. We didn't finish the job."

"Then finish it," the wolf, Zoro growled. "Try to finish me like you finished my brothers and sisters."

"It shouldn't take too long,"

For some reason, that infuriated Usopp as much as the wolf. A small, boiling stray cloud of the witch's magic passed Usopp's ear without him flinching. That's how angry he was.

There were three of them and one man-witch for them each.

Zoro the wolf charged for the man-witch with the long neck. The elk with the blue nose ran into the lion-witch and Usopp fired his arrow. The bore-faced bull-witch he'd aimed for lifted a hand and caught the arrow, or so he thought. His eyes widened considerably when the arrow slipped his grip and continued straight through his arm.

"What the…!?"

"Sanji's special arrows from a weeping willow," Usopp explained with a grin. "You witches have made too many enemies."

The man-witch growled, losing his bored expression and Usopp turned his tail and ran, knowing his opponent would follow him. The witch had already implied that she hated the forest, and that hatred was most likely inherited by her sons, which in turn gave Usopp the upper hand. He hoped.

He lithely jumped over a rock, one that shattered when the bull-witch ran straight into it. The brute strength of the man-witch was obviously nothing to be taken lightly, and Usopp knew his body was far from as strong as his father's or any of the grown centaurs. Why had they retreated?!

Usopp kept running, pushing his legs to their limit, all the while hearing the man-witch tear through the forest behind him with sounds of shattering wood and stone that echoed in the young centaur's heart. The forest was his home! He knew every tree and every rock. They belonged right where they were, and here Usopp lead a berserk man-witch through the Greenwood forest, knowing his pursuer loved to break it.

The sounds of the river reached Usopp's ears over the heart-breaking sounds behind him, to his slight surprise. But the centaur colt wasn't stupid enough to believe he'd led the way here by himself. The forest most probably guided him, which meant that the man-witch's end was near. Instinct told him that much.

Blue Line. Once upon a time a dragon saw the river from above between the lush green of the surrounding trees. The trolls in the Silver Mountains had agreed that the river was a blue line and somehow, from there the name had spread from species outside the mountains and followed through time to present day. Tonight, true to its name, Blue Line glowed blue, reflecting the cold, silvery moonlight like a ribbon of precious gems. Any other night Usopp would have stopped to admire the beauty light and nature offered, but with a murderous man-witch short on his heels he didn't even have the time to notice more than the reflections of the moonlight as he ran across the water to the opposite beach and turned, arrow at the ready.

The man-witch stood perfectly still in the light of the moon and river. He hadn't followed across the water; something Usopp wasn't late to take note on. He didn't know much about witches in general, other than what Sanji had mentioned in his stories. It had never been anything specific, but Usopp tried to recall if there was even one story that had never involved water in some way of a witch's or other evil being's demise. On the other hand, water was Sanji's greatest love beside young maidens. Strange considering he was a creature of Earth.

"Your arrows can't hurt me unless you hit, centaur," the man-witch growled. He was definitely trying to provoke Usopp thought.

"You admit I'm a centaur, so why believe I'll miss?" he calmly taunted back.

The man-witch smirked, but didn't move. "You centaurs are so prideful, so haughty about your archery. You count the arrows hitting the targets and never the ones actually doing harm. Tell me this; how many of your arrows killed your target tonight?"

Usopp choose not to respond. Somehow he could hear Sanji's voice, his constant warning to the centaur tribe in the river's soft kisses against his hoofs.

"What's this?" the man-witch chuckled. "Cat got your tongue? I see you realize just how weak…"

"So what?"

"Huh?"

Usopp glared at his enemy down the length of his arrow aiming for the man-witch's chest. "So what if my arrows don't always kill. What if I'm not aiming for a kill? Unlike you I am a being of this forest, one of very few, and we can't afford taking lives. Humans and witches, on the other hand, are growing in numbers. When you've killed everything else, you'll turn on each other just so you can keep killing."

"Big words, centaur foal."

"But I'm right," Usopp pressed, not missing the tremble of the man-witch's hands and knees. "Isn't the dragons' near extinction proof enough? You asked how many I've killed with my arrows tonight. Well, answer this; if you win this battle and kill both us and Luffy, who are you going to fight next?"

The man-witch tensed and gritted his teeth. Just a little more.

"Here's the answer," Usopp started, barred his own teeth and screamed. "You'll kill your own mother!"

That was it. The look of absolute fury on the man-witch's face was enough evidence that Usopp had stomped right over the softest place in his heart. The bull-witch jumped, a mighty leap that would take him over the water and down on Usopp with killing force.

"Never speak ill of Mother!"

Usopp lifted his bow. "You're an open target in the air!"

"So what?! What can one of your pathetic arrows do?!"

The centaur fired. At the same time a hundred centaurs hidden in the shadows of the forest released their arrows with singing whistles. Usopp's arrow hit the bull-witch in the chest, piercing his heart. Still the man-witch had enough life left to turn and see the rain of wooden projectiles with their green feathers.

Not all the arrows hit, but it didn't matter. The man-witch was dead before he fell into the river.

That's when something amazing happened; the water hissed and boiled around the dead man-witch, and Usopp watched as the body was purified and melted, evaporating in the water.

"I must pay closer attention to Sanji's stories," Usopp told himself before he lifted his gaze to find the rest of the centaur tribe… "Shakky?! Mother, is that you?! What are you doing here?"

It was indeed the tribe, the female half of it, all of them dressed for war. Shakky was especially beautiful with a crown of twined oak and silver on her head and dressed in an armour of leather and polished steel. Usopp's mother was not far from that respectful beauty, though she didn't wear any crown but rather a simple, silvery diadem keeping her unruly hair back from her face. She looked grim.

"The males returned, all of them wounded, some missing, and Yasopp said you hadn't retreated with him," Shakky explained with a low voice, her stern face showing disapproval, but also relief. "What were you thinking?"

"Luffy, the young dragon dropped from the sky to take up arms against a witch. A real witch!" Usopp explained heatedly. "He's the last young dragon and the world can't afford to lose him. I had to stay and make sure he was okay and then the man-witches turned up."

The mares started whispering and a few scrapped nervously with their hoofs, but Shakky and Usopp's mother stood perfectly still staring at him. Usopp wasn't regretting his choice, so he calmly held his ground. At last it was Shakky who closed her eyes with a troubled expression.

"The battle isn't over yet," she said lowly. "The dragon is still fighting, and I am afraid he is also losing."

"What?!"

"I'll explain on the run, now we must get back to the battlefield."

* * *

><p>The battlefield was a zone of destruction. The first being Usopp saw was the large elk with the blue nose lying over a bush, tongue hanging out and the centaur didn't want to confirm if the poor thing was dead or not.<p>

Past the elk the ground was red and black from embers, ashes and the witch's magic. The lion man-witch was nowhere on the ground or in the trees, at least not where Usopp could see him. But on the ground in the outer edges of the battlefield lay the long-necked man-witch with his neck in an odd angle. The black wolf stood there too, head hanging low and body trembling. It looked like he was alive, but he could also have died standing. Not that rare an occasion among centaurs. Luffy…?

Shakky had said the battle was locked, but Usopp hadn't understood what she'd meant. Now he did, and he wished he hadn't looked. Cold claws dug into his heart, squeezing it so hard it felt like it was about to give up and stop beating. Because there, in the middle of embers and ashes, lay Luffy, dull and still. The witch and last remaining man-witch stood close to his head, turned to Nami and the black unicorn a few yards away. Usopp didn't pay the females too much mind. The iron chain lying heavy across Luffy's neck and body took up most of his sight. Iron; the only metal that could hurt and weaken dragons. It burnt through their thick armour of scales, sometimes leaving scars. Luffy's dull body proved it. The scales were red and blood dripped from between the scales where the chain touched his body.

There were also bubbles on Luffy's pale gold scales, leftovers from the witch's magic, so Usopp could guess where the chain had come from.

"Your weakness is too obvious, dirt-blood," the witch purred at the females across the battlefield. "But I understand you. It hurts me deep to know this youngster is the last dragon."

"Don't touch him!" Nami yelled, her breath hitched and wretched body trembling. "I'll kill you if you touch him!"

The witch giggled in a cute manner, sending chills through Usopp's entire body.

"And what will you do to stop me, hm? Little griffon girl. If you come any closer, my son will rip out the youngster's tongue. It is more valuable alive. So… do us all a favour and leave."

Only then Usopp noticed what the man-witch was doing. He had forced Luffy's mouth open and had an arm inside the young dragon's mouth.

He couldn't watch.

Luffy was the last young dragon, a friend to everyone, a small star of hope and a future. Luffy cared for everyone in the forest, making it impossible to hate him.

Usopp couldn't just watch!

The last man-witch hissed when a green-feathered arrow struck his shoulder. Everybody turned to where it had come from.

"Usopp?" Nami whispered with surprise.

"The centaur?" the witch hissed, her voice suddenly very cold. "Blueno hunted you into the forest. I will never believe a colt was able to defeat him. Where is my son?"

"Dead," Usopp answered steely.

"Liar!"

"I'm not lying. He fell into the river and melted away."

Witch and son both stiffened with wide eyes, as if the centaur waved around with their weak spot.

Usopp placed another arrow to the string of his bow and aimed. "Get away from Luffy, man-witch!"

He avoided the flying arrow. Usopp might have gotten surprised and even awed by the man-witch's reflexes if he hadn't been so infuriated, so he just kept firing until his target let go of Luffy, never caring about the angered look on the man's face.

"Don't let go of the dragon!" the witch yelled. Her magic flowed from her shoulders and across her arms, the bubbles turning Usopp's arrows to foam, effectively stopping the centaur's attack.

Just as well, because Usopp's fingers had just closed around his last but one arrow.

"The centaur is no threat, my sweet," the witch hissed. "The dragon is our prize and hostage. Don't let your claws off it."

"It can't move, mother," the witch's son growled, his eyes locked on Usopp.

Nami tried to leap forward, but was stopped by the witch's magic aiming at her. She didn't want Luffy to be hurt, but she certainly didn't want to become a full human either. Death was better than suffering such a fate.

Robin stood as still as a rock, her horn glowing softly.

"It is not the dragon moving that troubles me, my sweet," the witch warned, and her son realized the error and started to slowly step backwards to Luffy's head.

But Usopp would have none of that. "What are you waiting for, witch boy? Come right at me! I can take you one with one arm tied to my back!"

The man-witch flinched and stopped.

"Don't mind the scrawny thing, son," the witch ordered.

"What? Too scared to fight a centaur colt? Or don't you want to take up fights you know you can't win?" Usopp continued his taunting, dancing around on the spot in challenge. He had to get that man away from his dragon friend. Good thing the man-witch's pride was huge, for he was definitely torn between his mother's orders and that pride.

"It's just trying to provoke you, son. Don't listen."

Luffy's tail had twitched and now he was turning his head. Usopp would probably not have noticed if the dragon hadn't started speaking.

"Usopp? What… are you doing?"

The usually chirpy voice was hoarse and full of pain. It made Usopp even angrier to hear it. What had these witches done to his dear friend?!

"What doesn't look like I'm doing!? I'm taking over the fight since you can't even stand up anymore! Hey, man-witch! I've killed two of your brothers now and I've hardly gotten a scratch!"

A pair of frightening yellow eyes darted over Usopp's body, but the centaur didn't care how many wounds he had at the moment.

"Stop it, Usopp," Luffy hissed out, and the centaur didn't miss the edge of panic in his voice. "He'll kill you."

"Then stand up and fight back, Luffy! You're a dragon, for rocks' sake! You are the last dragon!"

"I know!"

"Hold him down," the witch's voice cut through the air like a whip when Luffy started fighting against his weakness, and this time her son moved to obey.

Usopp fired his arrow, but even though it hit the man-witch's back the witch was already ordering her son to ignore anything the centaur said and did.

When Usopp had run into the forest before it had taken him to the river, that bull-witch and Usopp standing on either side of the Blue Line. Usopp centaur had stomped over a soft spot, and if that was what it took to get the witches off Luffy, then so be it!

"Your mother is an ugly, senile old ewe!"

That hit home. In both witches. Luffy was ignored and Usopp only had one arrow left. Nami and the black unicorn wouldn't be fast enough to save him.

"How dare you insult me, vermin!" the witch screeched and attacked. Her son shot forward too.

"Usopp, NO!"

A loud splash sounded and Luffy's restrained tail whipped out, forcefully hitting the witch and her son just an inch away from the centaur.

"What? What happened?"

Luffy the dragon was free from the chain, and wet. Not that he seemed to care, or notice.

"Don't touch my friends," he growled.

"Impossible! My iron chain! My magic! You can't have freed yourself!"

"How should I know?"

The witch glanced at Nami and the unicorn, but though they were nearer the dragon than before they weren't the cause of this.

A second splash echoed, and this time Usopp took the time to see what it was.

It was water. A ball of water must have fallen from the sky, much bigger than any raindrop, and it had hit Nami. Nami the griffin.

"Nami, you're back to normal!" Usopp called out.

The griffin had noticed, and she had probably never been happier in her life. The curse was broken.

"How?" the witch whispered, trembling like a leaf.

"Very simple actually," Sanji's voice sounded and Usopp turned to the golden deer-man emerging from the shadows. "Usopp have said very useful things throughout the battle. First he said you have made too many enemies. You, fair lady, have made enemies with the entire forest."

"What are you saying?" The witch's voice sounded seriously shaken and her son stepped closer to her, crouched and prepared to protect his mother.

"I never really left the battle, lady witch," Sanji explained with a gentle voice, which didn't match the smirk and cold look on his face. "That dragon is precious to all of us, so I couldn't leave him behind. I couldn't do anything though, until Usopp came back and reminded me…" he lazily pointed to the sky "that only water can purify your tainted soul."

A ball of water, its wavering surface reflecting the moonlight like a gem, was falling through the sky, coming for the witches.

Usopp could only gape as his eyes followed the falling water ball, awed and making a mental note to ask Sanji about it later. The battle was probably over now.

A gasp alerted the centaur, and when the water hit the ground, the witch sat on the ground a good way away from where the water ball had landed. But she was alone and staring with wide, disbelieving eyes at the wet soil where she had been standing a second ago.

"My son…" she whispered. "My sweet. What have you done? How dare you! Lucci! My first! My sweetest!"

She screamed. An ear-piercing sound that almost tore Usopp's head to bits, and the witch's power exploded into a swirling, boiling tornado of red and black bubbles. The colour of anger and hatred.

"I will destroy you!" she hollered, gathering all of her power in her hands raised above her head. "I will destroy you all along with this detested forest."

Usopp's heart skipped a beat and he took out his last arrow, but it had barely left his bow before it turned to ashes. More arrows came from invisible bows in the shadows of the forest, with the same result. There was no more water coming from the sky and Usopp didn't have any more arrows. There was nothing he could do and the witch's power was still growing rapidly. She really would destroy the entire forest! But Usopp's father was in there, and him mother and his little friends and Kaya and Hercules and Blue Line, the trees and rocks and fallen trunks and the paths and grass and flowers and everything else!

"Sanji! Nami! Unicorn! DO SOMETHING!" Usopp yelled desperately, but all three of them was just like him backing away from the mad witch.

"For my sons!" the witch screamed.

Usopp closed his eyes.

Luffy's roar resounded through Usopp's body, and almost at the same time he was embraced by soft, pleasant warmth. Every scream that resounded in his heart since he discovered the trap a few days prior silenced, every burn and unnoticed wound ceased to hurt. Everything bad and every hurtful feeling ebbed to leave only serenity.

A pure white flame flooded from the young dragon's mouth and covered the entire battlefield. It washed over the witch whose power seemed to just fade away, the woman not even able to scream. The long-necked man-witch, the black wolf and the elk with the blue nose were embraced by the soft white fire, and after only a moment the elk's large head peaked up from the flames with a surprised expression.

Ruffy's went out of breath, and slowly the fire subsided, leaving the ground burnt, but Usopp's sharp eyes could see the faint hint of green among the ashes. The soil was still alive.

Usopp looked around, feeling quite overwhelmed. The long-necked man-witch was gone and the black wolf slowly trotted over to the blue-nosed elk who tentatively made sure he could stand on all four legs. Sanji's wounds looked old now, like they had almost healed, leaving no scar that Usopp could see. Nami and the black unicorn seemed perfectly fine too. Luffy was out of breath, but otherwise he seemed unharmed. The marks from the chains were still visible, but would probably not leave scars.

In the middle of everything lay a naked old woman with hair as white as snow. She futilely clawed at the ashes covering the earth and lifted her head slightly, glaring draggers at Luffy. Usopp recognized her eyes. This was the witch's true form.

Sanji took a few steps closer. "It's over now," he said softly.

"It's not over," the witch retorted hotly with a raspy voice. "Watch me, deer-man, I will recover my power, I will give birth to the strongest man-witch in history, and I will come back to burn this forest to the ground."

Normally Usopp would have reacted to her words, but somehow Luffy's fire had washed away all of his stress and nervousness. Maybe he was in a state that would soon wear off, but Usopp dwelled in it for a moment, and when Kaya slowly walked into the burnt area with an urn on her shoulder Usopp couldn't find it in him to be surprised.

Kaya, dressed for war with her pale hair pulled back by a diadem made of roots, carefully walked over to where the witch lay. The first light of morning filtered through the trees, reflecting in the silvery steel of her armour and making her pale skin glow gently.

She glared at the witch and lowered the urn from her shoulder, a drop of water falling over the brim due to being too full.

"This is for my parents," Kaya said and poured the water over the witch.

* * *

><p>The morning was grey for two reasons. The main reason was the rainclouds moving over the earth from the east. The second was the heavy smoke rising from where there had once been a farm, and a village beyond it. Everything was burnt to the ground, houses, plants, animals and humans alike. The world around would take it as a warning, because both the farm and the village had messed with Greenwood forest. The truth was a little different.<p>

The day before Luffy had lifted from the Silver Mountains to overlook the forest. He too had been nervous about the looming threat from humans to the centaurs, but Old Ray had quickly brought him back to the caves of the mountains and Dragon had told Luffy not to leave until the threat was gone. Luffy though had not liked that decision. In fact he had disliked it so much he'd tried to fight his father to get out, only to find himself alone against all four elder dragons. Very unfair in Luffy's opinion.

After that Luffy had stayed in the cave, but not quietly. He'd started digging at the walls. It was something he'd done out of restlessness since he was born so Dragon hadn't thought more about it, that is until the digging noises suddenly stopped. Luffy had managed to dig through the wall between the cave and a tunnel the trolls had once inhabited. The hole had been too narrow for Dragon and any of the others, and by the time they finally managed to widen the hole Luffy had found the exit and was long gone.

Desperate beyond understanding Dragon and the other dragons had taken off towards the village and burnt it, hoping to find Luffy there.

They had found him however, when Luffy's white fire rose from the forest. Usopp was grateful he wasn't in Luffy's skin now.

"Hey, Sanji," the centaur said quietly.

"Yes?"

"Luffy's fire…"

The golden deer-man didn't say anything at first, and when he opened his mouth he seemed to choose his words carefully. "Among all the mysteries about dragons, their fire is certainly the… most noticed one. In my youth I believed the colour of the fire was the same as their scales, but it turned out that first time I saw a dragon breathe same-coloured fire was a rare occasion. However, every colour has different… affects, so to say."

His voice faded into silence as his hand unconsciously touched the wounds in his left side. Usopp could tell even the normally all-knowing Sanji was stunned by what had happened.

"So," the centaur started hesitantly "white fire can heal?" He couldn't help sounding it as a question. Sanji looked at him and blinked, as if he had forgotten the centaur was even there.

"Perhaps," he said.

"I should ask Luffy instead," Usopp said, intending to be helpful, but was met by Sanji's humouring laugher.

"Believe me, Usopp; if there is one thing I am certain about in the matter of dragons it is that they know even less about the affects they have on the world around than any other creature. Anything the dragons know about themselves is what humans and other creatures have once taken the time to examine."

"Oh." That did seem right, at least in Luffy's case.

Sanji continued to chuckle as he picked a twig from a tree and put it between his teeth, contently chewing on the end of it.

Usopp decided upon another question about the night's events. "Where did those flying water balls come from?"

"The river," the golden deer-man said with a shrug and a playful smirk.

"That's not what I meant," Usopp sighed. He was too tired to get upset at anything this morning. Most of all he just wanted to go to sleep.

"You don't have to understand everything, Usopp," Sanji smiled. "This was a one-time thing  
>anyway."<p>

"So you asked the river to send some water to defeat that witch with."

"You could say that," the golden deer-man nodded.

Sighing again Usopp turned his head to where Kaya lay clutching the now empty urn in her arms some distance away. It had taken a few minutes before the surprise that Kaya thought/knew the witch had killed her parents got to Usopp. The young mare didn't seem to take much joy in having taken revenge though.

"Why don't you talk to her?"

"Huh?"

Sanji's eyes gleamed as he chewed on the end of the twig and threw a sideways glance at the flustered centaur colt. "She want you to talk to her."

Usopp fidgeted a little, but a spank on the butt from Sanji automatically had him going, and when Kaya glanced up at him Usopp couldn't just leave. Sanji was already gone though, the cheeky immortal.

"Are you all right?" Usopp asked Kaya when she looked away from him.

Kaya shook her head slowly, but didn't say anything. The male scratched his neck. He hadn't comforted a mare before. The children, yes, he could make them feel better by telling a story or something, but that was probably not what Kaya needed.

"Why did you come with water?"

This time the young mare flinched visibly. "I… Sanji once said… and the man that fell in the river…"

"Oh. So you saw that."

"My arrow missed," Kaya mumbled and hid her face with her pale hair, but the red of her face shone through. "I almost hit you instead. It landed right beside you."

"I was almost hit by worse things."

Kaya looked up with a startled expression.

"Never mind," Usopp said quickly. "I heard you say something before you poured water over the witch. Was she really the one who killed your parents?"

"She didn't kill them," Kaya said, her sad expression now dark and grim. "Remember when I got lost last year?"

"Remember? We searched for you for three days straight. I fell asleep on the spot the moment we found you."

The young mare lowered her head, trying to hide her blushing cheeks. Usopp hadn't been the only one to fall asleep like that.

"I found them."

"Huh?"

"I somehow ended up at the outer edge of the forest in the evening, and there was this funny smell I felt attracted to, so I followed it. That's when I found them. My parents. The witch had made slaves of them! They didn't even recognize me! I… father…"

Usopp placed a hand on the trembling mare's shoulder.

"I tried to get through to them, my parents," Kaya picked up, drying her nose "but some strange human men showed up, so I ran away. Back to the forest."

The male centaur let out a breath. Such a cruel fate. The humans really were a thoroughly rotten race. Usopp couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't even one good human in the world, considering how many they were.

The couple's bubble suddenly burst when a happy call sounded through the air.

"Good morning Usoppn. Why haven't you come to the hill and watched the sunrise for so long?"

Usopp hit a hand over his face, then cringed when he felt the beetle land on his butt and immediately whipped with his tail. It was with satisfaction he listened to Hercules' yelp of pain.

"What's the matter with you so early in the morning, Usoppn? Did you awake on the wrong…? Holy Tree! What happened here?!"

Beetles. Very loyal friends but certainly ignorant. Hercules had flown across the whole black-burnt area where trees had fallen over and ashes covered almost everything and only now, seated on Usopp's shoulder, he noticed it.

"Well…" Usopp drawled out from under his hand. "That's a very long story."


End file.
